This invention relates generally to the field of information management and more particularly to the field of managing incoming information received from a plurality of media and determining the optimal transmission media for the generation of new messages or responses to the received information.
From the dawn of civilization, people have directly transmitted information from one person to another. Information was first transmitted by speech and later by the written word. Writings enabled people to transmit information by messengers from a location in which the sender of the writing was present to another location where the receiver was present. In time, postal services were developed in which a person would deliver a letter to the post office in one city and an agent of the post office would deliver that letter to a post office in another city where the letter would be picked up by the person to whom the letter was sent. Ever since the numeric codification of streets and buildings received general acceptance, an individual""s name and their household postal address have been linked.
With the advent of general local and then national telephone service, a second numbering system was developed based on the location of the telephone that was assigned to a particular individual. This second number was tied by tradition to the individual""s numeric household address.
Cellular telephone services have been developed in which the cellular telephone can be moved from one location to another. The cellular telephone is assigned a numeric identification number. When the cellular telephone is in the roaming mode, i.e., being moved from one location to another, the cellular telephone network needs a little help from the user of the cellular telephone to establish the location of the cellular telephone.
Facsimile machines that utilize the telephone network have been developed to transmit information from one facsimile machine to another. Computers that utilize modems and the telephone network have been developed to transmit information from one computer to another. Currently, information may also be transmitted from one location to another by a smart telephone, i.e., a telephone having a screen and a keyboard and information may also be transmitted by cable television i.e., invoices.
Currently, individuals are receiving information by mail, telephone, cellular telephone, telephone answering machines, facsimile machine, computer, and cable television. A disadvantage of the prior art is that all of the information has to be handled in a different manner using different devices. For instance, when one goes to work in the morning, an individual has to: check voice mail to retrieve the phone messages; check a computer to determine the E-mail messages; go to a facsimile machine to review the facsimile messages; go to their inbox to review letter mail; and go to a television set to review information transmitted by video.
An additional disadvantage of the prior art is that the individual may review the messages in an order that bears no relationship to their perceived importance.
Another disadvantage of the prior art is that the individual may have to check all of the media before they obtain the message that is most important to them.
Another problem encountered by the prior art is that, often times, the sender of a message has to review the status of a sent message, i.e., did the recipient of the message actually perform the task requested by the sender of the message. Often, the sender has to contact the recipient of the message to determine whether or not the task has been completed.
This invention overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art by providing a system and method that enables incoming information (messages) received from a plurality of devices to be available on a single unit so that the information may be accessed at one location using the single unit. This invention also provides a system to automatically route messages based upon the preferences of the party who received the message. Responses to messages may be kept with the original message so that the status of the message may be maintained.
This invention also enables one to send a message in the most optimal manner.